Page:Henry rideout--The siamese cat.djvu/183

 brain him, and found himself a-sprawl beneath a table on which a lamp still dangerously tottered.

Bolt upright in a chair, as if Medusa were to make a formal call, Aunt Julia glared at him with a Gorgon face of unbelief and wrath. She was the first to break their frozen stupefaction.

"Please explain, Mr. Scarlett. Why, after writing that incomprehensible letter, why have you kept me waiting while you lurked under a table?"

"I—I came up through the floor, you know," he stammered, prostrate and guilty.

Then your conduct is even more incredible." The little matron bristled. "If you are given to practical jokes …"

"Ssh!" warned Scarlett, regaining at once his feet and his presence of mind. "Please whisper!"

"I shall do nothing of the sort," she declared,